Iran has threatened to attack oil facilities in neighbouring countries after Israel struck at least five energy sites in and around Tehran, smothering the city in black smoke and escalating fears of significant disruption to the global economy. “If you can tolerate oil at more than $200 per barrel, continue this game,” said a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday.
Fireballs and thick plumes of smoke rose over Tehran after Israeli airstrikes hit four storage facilities, killing four employees, according to Iran’s oil distribution company. Explosions in the nearby city of Karaj reverberated across the region. The US sought to calm markets as oil prices surged, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying disruptions to petroleum and gas supplies would be brief, “a few weeks” at worst. Iran produces about 4% of global oil, much of it exported to China.
The IRGC spokesperson accused the US and Israel of targeting civilians and fuel facilities, warning Gulf states to press them to stop or “similar actions will be taken in the region”. Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was chosen as his successor by the clerical assembly, marking the first father-to-son succession since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
US President Donald Trump said earlier that Iran’s next supreme leader was “not going to last long” without his approval. The Israeli military posted on X in Farsi that it would continue pursuing every successor of Ali Khamenei. A fresh wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia intercepted 15 drones, and strikes in Bahrain caused damage to a desalination plant. Two people were killed in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
The US military confirmed a service member died from injuries sustained in an Iranian attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia, bringing the US death toll to seven. Reports from US media indicate Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence that could help it target US military assets in the region.
